


Something New

by relaxovision



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Sleeping Warrior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 10:26:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relaxovision/pseuds/relaxovision
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different take on the garden scene. Mulan runs. Aurora follows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Mulan has been lesbian to me since the late 90's. I'm overjoyed that now so many more people will see that side of her.

Nothing makes sense.

The leaves of the petunia are too green, and the petals shine too bright. The sky is just the right color blue and Aurora’s heart won’t stop pounding. It’s like everything’s flaring up and gaining speed when she has just arrived back home. Is that what life will be like from now on?

Will her child be born too fast, and grown tomorrow?

Nothing makes sense.

She looks up from her garden and there stands Mulan, who has been her anchor through all the chaos. Aurora can’t fathom what they went through just to get here, just to be able to breathe the same air for a while without fearing the toxin of another curse.

But her anchor is not standing fast. Mulan lingers and the kisses of golden sun rays seem to burn her ebony hair. She’s so small. So insecure.

Aurora shakes off the feeling, because there’s no way she could contain her smile. Not now—not when has news to share; not when Mulan’s face lights up upon seeing her; not when Aurora’s heart just skipped a beat and when her steps towards Mulan become a clumsy attempt at running. How could she not smile when all her colors, too, bloom like the flowers around her.

And then Mulan is holding her hands and she talks about courage, but it’s so hard to listen right now.

They smile a lot. Mulan says she has news, but Aurora is giddy. She spills hers first.

The leaves wither, the petals die, and nothing makes sense, because Mulan has stopped smiling. She feels arms clutch her tight and gasps. Even though everything is strange right now her thoughts are filled with images of the near future:

Little feet running too fast through the halls of Aurora’s home; Phillip catching their daughter, lifting her up way above his head; Mulan. The hug ends before she can come up with scenario for Mulan, and a part of her panics. That panic grows when Mulan reveals she’s leaving.

Aurora wants to cry, wants to object, wants to grab Mulan and ask her for an explanation. She has to know what’s going on—when everything has become so strange.

They hug again and Aurora can feel her pulse in her throat. It’s like she’s standing on the edge of a cliff when Mulan turns her back and rushes away. She rushes away like the withering plants and her future. There’s something—there’s something she must have missed. Maybe it’s something she doesn’t remember. Maybe it’s something that would come back to her if she just had a little more time. Maybe it’s waiting on the tip of her tongue or in the trembling of her fingers.

Her anchor, she’s leaving and they didn’t even talk about it. They didn’t get to breathe the same air before moving on. It doesn’t make sense.  

Aurora runs.

Mulan is already on her way down the long stairs from the garden to the court. Aurora opens her mouth, but words fail her.

She runs, and she almost trips, because of course her feet move faster than her mind.

But she reaches Mulan in one piece and when she grabs her, and when Mulan turns around, it’s like she made that last step into the depth.

It doesn’t make sense. Mulan’s face is wet with tears, the tip of her nose shines as red as her cheeks, and she won’t look Aurora in the eye. How can that be when just seconds ego everything seemed to shine so bright?

Aurora reaches up and cradles that face she never wanted to see so broken. Her palms stick to Mulan’s cheeks and she watches a faint glimmer in her eyes burn out. The panic becomes unbearable. Suddenly Aurora cannot see her future at all. Not without Mulan.

Nothing makes sense. Mulan’s tears taste salty and they won’t stop coming.

But Mulan kisses Aurora back with her own hands pressed to the small of Aurora’s back—with her eyes closed and her lips trembling.

It doesn’t make sense.

But maybe—maybe together they can figure it out.


End file.
